Lies, More Lies, and Damn Lies: Beware Your Sources

Curiously Veg Radio

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We took some time off from the interviews this episode to banter about a few things that got under our skin the past couple of weeks. We discussed an article that lists cheese, eggs, and dairy yogurt as healthy fats, “lab grown”/cultured meat, people spreading bad science online, and more. Things get a bit silly from the start, you’ve been warned.

CONTEST WINNER

There were quite a few entries into the contest for the signed copy of Proteinaholic by Dr. Garth Davis. We’d like to thank everyone who threw their hat into the ring but there can only be one winner:

Brian Burkhart!

We’ll be in touch soon to get your info! Don’t worry if you didn’t win, this won’t be the last contest from us.

"There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies and statistics."- Mark Twain

WATCH OUT FOR LIES

The “what grinds our gears” episode started out look at the study posted by a fellow Facebook user. The study, Mortality in vegetarians and comparable nonvegetarians in the United Kingdom, was the focus of a post that started as

“Got meat? Or do you avoid it because you think being a vegetarian will increase your life span? A large study found no difference in all cause mortality between them. Rut ro!...”

We found this alarming as the study didn’t really say what this person was claiming, the region and sample size was low regarding the claim, and even the conclusion was ignored by the poster. Given that the person hails themselves as a health professional, many would follow his lead without taking time to understand the lack in value of the study and/or his interpretation of the abstract.

Once you managed to separate our face from our palms the next article, 10 High-Fat Foods That Are Actually Super Healthy, wasn’t quite as bad since it atleast had some nuggets of truth. What struck us was claiming cheese, eggs, fish, and dairy as “super healthy”. Given what we know about the links in heart disease, cancer, etc. these food are far from “super healthy”.

We covered a few alternatives to the healthy claims the article made. However, we point out it’s important to be aware of who writes an article as well as how it’s written. For example, “Cheese, like other high-fat dairy products, also contains powerful fatty acids that have been linked to all sorts of benefits, including reduced risk of type 2 diabetes.” is read as one statement that is really a collection of partial truths. However, if you remove the first part you end up with the full truth, “powerful fatty acids that have been linked to all sorts of benefits, including reduced risk of type 2 diabetes.”

Now, we know none of you eat fast food… right? Ok, good. As we dove into a level of absurdity, you may have heard about Chick-fil-a stating, in regards to a healthy diet:

“...Eat smaller meals (like our 8-count pack of grilled nuggets) every three to four hours”

Not to mention this would cost a person $700 a month, it would also give you (per serving):

• 3g of fat (1g saturated)
• 70mg of cholesterol
• 0g of fiber
• 23g of protein (listen to our interview with Dr. Davis to hear about protein)
• 530mg of sodium

They claim health benefits because of the low calories. However, as we’ve said before, on a whole foods plant based diet calories aren’t an issue. Sounds like a better and healthier plan that 8 chicken nuggets every 3 to 4 hours.

Digging out of a grease filled bag we talked about a recent hot topic, being cultured or “lab grown” meat. If a few of the social media groups this has come up as either a “would you” or “is this vegan”. Given that the product is still meat we know the negative baggage that comes along with animal products. One argument is this would be less damaging to the environment since it wouldn’t require livestock. This topic did spark some debate between Hope and David about if the effort is well spent. Hope feels like is a valuable stepping stone to reduce/end a large portion of animal cruelty and possible turning more to a plant based diet. However, David feels the time and money spent could go toward a vegetable replacement and ending the cruelty altogether. We’d like to know your thoughts on this one. You can contact us or post to our Facebook or Twitter.

We covered a lot in this episode. Give it a listen, subscribe, and feel free to contact us with your questions or comments.

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